


NedCat drabbles

by CatelynStark956



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: And angst, F/M, Warning for fluff, lots and lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:14:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 14,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27942842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatelynStark956/pseuds/CatelynStark956
Summary: This will be a drabble collection with things that are too short to be their own fics. Of course all NedCat because I love them and I can't have enough of them, it will be both canon and modern AUs.It will be updated every time I have a new drabble to add, but I don't know how often that will be.
Relationships: Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark
Comments: 20
Kudos: 21





	1. Snowed in

Catelyn woke and for a moment she didn’t really understand why, but then she realized that Ned wasn’t next to her. She looked at the clock by the bed, it showed 05:26. Not really time to get up yet. But then Ned came back into the room.

“Why are you up?” she asked, her voice still hoarse with sleep

“The storm only got worse during the night, it’s still snowing” was all he said as he slipped back beneath the covers.

“Okay” she replied, not thinking much of it. 

She closed her eyes and made herself comfortable once more. It was still an hour until the alarm would ring, she could get in some more sleep.

“We’re snowed in, Cat.”

Her eyes flew open again. Seven save her.

“So we get snowed in for the third winter in a row? Ned, tell me again, why are we living in this godforsaken city?”

It usually only lasted a few days, then the sun would melt the snow and they would be able to get out, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t the worst thing Catelyn knew. 

“Because it has good schools and it’s not too far away from either of our families” he answered dryly, as he did every time she asked that question.

“The second spring arrives we are moving, because I can’t keep living in this snowy hellscape.”

Catelyn had said that every winter since they had moved there nineteen years earlier and it never happened. She didn’t really mean it, she loved it there and the kids had expressed the opinion that they would rather die than move. But still she couldn’t help but feel that the snow would be the death of her.   
Ned pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head.

“We have done this many times before, we know how to do it” he said. 

“That doesn’t mean that working from home with five kids in the house isn’t enough to break a person in the middle.”

“Seven kids, love. Jon and Theon are here” he reminded her.

“Oh kill me now, I’m begging you.”

Working from home with seven kids would be a nightmare. But if they were lucky there would be no separate meetings that day and they could share the office. Otherwise someone would have to take the kitchen table. And Catelyn would fistfight Ned for the office if it came down to it. 

“You’re so dramatic.”

His laugh vibrated through her body and pressed herself even closer to him. She liked the feeling of that.

“You know it will be awful” she mumbled into his chest. 

“Won’t it be nice spending time together?”

“I love you, you know I do, but let’s not push it.”

He laughed again and kissed the top of her head. She turned her face towards him, found him smiling back at her. She pushed herself up and kissed him.

“I love you too.”


	2. Grocery shopping

“I can’t reach it. Help, please.”

Ned squeezed her hand and reached up to the top shelf. Without struggling he took down the package of flour.   
Catelyn loved grocery shopping after work. Slowly strolling through the store with Ned by her side was at the moment her favorite part of the week. No kids, no work, just them and a shopping list. It was oddly calming. 

“Thank you.”

He had to reach behind her to put it into the little cart that she pulled. And as he did so she felt his lips on his neck. Her breath hitched slightly and her eyes swept through the aisle, making sure that no one was there to see them. 

“What are you doing?” she hummed, but she couldn’t keep herself from smiling. 

She could feel how she started blushing, as she always did when he touched her like that. She considered it to be an annoying trait, but Ned loved it. He would often try to make it happen just because he enjoyed to look at her. And she wasn’t going to lie to herself, she enjoyed it too.

“Appreciating my wife” he replied as he raised his head to look at her. 

She ran her thumb over the back of his hand. 

“Can it wait until we get home? I fear this is a very public place.”

“You’re blushing very prettily right now, Mrs. Stark. And the way your voice goes a little deeper...”

“Shut up!”

He was quiet then, he kissed her, actually. And she knew she wasn’t supposed to encourage it, but she couldn’t break away. And there was no one there, it didn’t matter.   
That was where she was wrong. Suddenly someone cleared their throat and Catelyn basically flew backwards. Wylis Manderly stood further down the aisle, inspecting a package of baking soda very carefully. 

“What’s left on the list?” Ned asked as they continued down the aisle, past Wylis. 

Catelyn stopped and let go of the cart for a moment so that she could fish the list out of her pocket. She looked through it quickly, they were only missing Robb’s cereal. But they had already passed that, and she didn’t have patience to go all the way back. She didn’t want to let go of Ned. Robb could live without it for a week, it would be perfectly fine.

“Nothing. We’re done” she said and shoved the list back in her pocket. 

“Finally.”

She laughed.

“Are we a bit impatient?”

He glanced at her and she had to look away because gods those eyes. 

“Can you blame me?”

“Don’t look at me like that!”

“Like what?” he said innocently. 

“You know fully well what you’re doing, Sir.”

His breath was hot against her face when he leaned closer to her and for a moment she felt like her heart would stop. Never had she believed that she could get so turned on in a grocery store. But her husband certainly had his moments. 

“And what are you going to do about it?”

Absolutely nothing. 

“Let’s just go home.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”


	3. You will hold my heart forever

To Catelyn’s relief he made himself ready to leave after he had finished. Sometimes he stayed, and those nights were undoubtedly the worst. When she had to lay there next to a man that was her husband, but that wasn’t Ned. 

It had been two years since the news of that the Lannisters had killed him reached her, and a year since she had been forced to remarry. But in her heart Ned was still her husband. Every time someone said the words “your husband” she thought of Ned. Her love, the father of her children, the rock her life had been built upon.

She didn’t think she would bear any children for her new husband. She wasn’t too old for it, she just had a feeling of that their marriage would be a childless one. She had birthed five children for Ned, but there would be no more for her new husband. She had her children. She had her babes. Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon. She didn’t need more and she didn’t want more. He already had children too. Three of them.

In her darkest moments she hated her new husband. He had taken her from her children, taken her from her home. Taken her only purpose in life and crushed it. She had loved Ned with all her heart, and after he was gone she had made it her purpose to take care of their children. And then she had been married away while her children remained in Winterfell. She had nothing left but the strange new husband that knew nothing of her. He was kind, but he didn’t understand. Sometimes she thought that he was stupid. And every time he coupled with her she couldn’t sleep afterwards. He came once a week, hoping to get a child on her. Afterwards she always felt dirty, defiled. And every time she thought that she would die if she had to endure it another time. But still she did it. Again and again. It was her duty. She had always done her duty.

It was a night like that. She could feel the panic rise in her the second he had closed the door to her chamber. For a minute she couldn’t move. She just laid there with her heart racing in her chest and felt how his seed trickled down her thighs.

_At least he has stopped with trying to kiss me. That’s always something_ , she thought as she climbed out of the bed.

It was a little easier to breathe after she had washed his seed from her thighs. That usually helped. But it still wasn’t good. She hated it. But it was her duty. Her marriage was her duty. Even though it would kill her.

As she washed herself she prayed for that there would be no child that time either. With Ned she had always done the opposite. She had prayed for more children. She had wanted his children. She didn’t want that man’s children. The thought of it was like a rope around her neck that threatened to strangle her.

She walked over to the window, threw open the shutters and breathed deeply of the night air. She ignored the cold, would have to endure her shivering. Because if she closed her window she would die. The air of the chamber would choke her.

_Forgive me, my love.  
_

The tears burned in her eyes and she let them fall. All the times Ned had stood before the windows of her bedchamber back in Winterfell while she was curled up underneath her furs. And all the nights when he had wrapped her in his arms and held her close. She had taken those moments for granted. She had not appreciated them enough.

Just after he died she had thought that she would die too. That the pressure over her chest would kill her. But she had been able to distract herself by helping Robb. She had focused on her children. When the pressure came now she couldn’t focus on her children. They were thousands of miles away. They wrote her letters often. Arya had been angry at her in the beginning, for marrying someone else. Catleyn had also been angry with herself for marrying, for leaving her children. Not that she had had any choice. But still. They were so small, all of them. And still she had been forced to leave them. She would give anything to get to move back to them. Her heart ached every time she thought of them. Her babes.

One day she would drown in her dark thoughts, she was sure of it. Damn her husband, damn his castle, damn his stupid children, damn every person in the castle who wouldn’t leave her alone. “My lady, are you feeling well?” How many times had she heard that? She wished they would all go away. No, she wished that she would go away. She wanted to see Ned again.

_I never wanted any of this, Ned. This was not my choice.  
_

Her new husband tried to comfort her, make her happy. He gave her gifts, talked to her, made jokes and tried to her her to smile. Sometimes he even ordered the cooks to make food she liked. She knew that she was being unfair when she hated him. She didn’t hate him, not really. She actually liked him quite well, cared for him even. He would have made a fine husband to any woman. He was probably miserable as well. Being married to a woman who was always sad and distant couldn’t be that easy. She wished she wouldn’t have felt disgust every time he laid with her, she wished his jokes would have made her smile. She wished she would have been happy with him. It would have been better that way. Much easier.

_He’s good. Anyone would be lucky to have him. But he’s not you. He’ll never be you._

A gust of wind swept in through the open window. It grabbed her long hair, made it dance through the air. Ned would have loved seeing that. And maybe her new husband would have loved it as well, if he had been there to see it. She had not cut it since before Ned died. She had thought of doing it many times, but every time she found herself unable to cut the hair that Ned had loved.

_They probably think I’m mad. Maybe I am._

Maybe that was what she was. Mad. Maybe that was why everything seemed so dark all the time. Maybe that was why she sometimes found herself unable to breathe. She missed Ned. Every second of every day she missed Ned. 

She looked at the stars. Hoped that Ned could also see them where he was. Hoped that he could hear her words, that he loved her as well.

“Good night” she said out loud, as she did every night. “Sleep well, wherever you are. Wait for me. I love you.”


	4. A little bit drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a drabble that I originally wrote on tumblr with the prompt drunk/sloppy kiss

His wife was no heavy drinker. Always the proper lady she never drank more than a cup for her meals and during feasts she made sure to fill every other cup with water.

Perhaps it was the Greatjon’s fault for taking ale much stronger than what they were used to in Winterfell with him to the castle for the celebration of Catelyn’s thirtieth birthday. Or maybe she had just decided that her thirtieth birthday was something worth celebrating in proper northern fashion. No matter the reason, Ned had never seen his wife so deep in her cups. 

And at the moment, several hours into the feast, her hair was loose, her cheeks were flushed and she spoke more freely than Ned had ever heard her do. He was well aware of that she would be more than scandalized in the morning, but he found it very amusing. Perhaps his eyes drifted off towards his wife even more often than usually that night. Because she was very beautiful. 

She had danced half a hundred dances during the night. In the beginning he had danced with her, but when she had started to get tipsy it had been hard. He was no good dancer and without her steady moves to guide him it was almost impossible. He had been happy to let other men partner her though, because watching her laugh as she spun around the hall was enough. He liked seeing her enjoy herself.

The Greatjon was leading Catelyn back towards the table and Ned could not help but notice that she leaned against Lord Umber a little more heavily than she usually would have. 

“Is it perhaps time to retire for the nigh, my lady?” Ned asked when she sat down.

“Not yet” she said and the words were quite slurred.

She reached for her cup on the table and banged her elbow into the table edge when she did so. Catelyn was usually careful not to swear and she always kept her language polished but then she let out a string of colorful words that Ned never would have expected to hear from her.

“Are you sure?” he laughed as Catelyn rubbed her elbow with a sulking look on her face.

She looked up at him and he could see the moment when the spark lit in her eyes.

“Would you accompany me?”

One of her hands moved to his thigh beneath the table, squeezing lightly. 

“You’re drunk” he said, taking her hand and moving it away.

She leaned closer to him and her breath was hot against his face.

“True. But so are you” she whispered. “And I want you. In me and around me, hard and fast. Please, my love.”

She knew how to get what he wanted, Ned had never been able to deny her much. And especially not when she asked like that. He could feel his body respond to her words and she smiled mischievously as she cupped him through his breeches. He couldn’t hold back a gasp.

“Should we go to bed then, Cat?”

She leaned forward to kiss him, tongue pushing into his mouth. He welcomed her advance, moving a hand up to tangle in her hair. And perhaps it was a bit fumbling, but the feeling of her lips against his and the taste of ale on her tongue sent a hot wave through him.

“Yes. Let us go to bed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me on tumblr on @ loverofnedandcat if you wanna send in some prompts that I'll write


	5. Heavy snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one written on tumblr with the prompt "I almost lost you" kiss

“Don’t ever do that to me again” she whispered into the crook of his neck. “I need you to promise me, Ned, never do that to me again.”

Their arms were wrapped so tightly around each other that she wasn’t sure where she ended and he started. But Catelyn was sure of that she would never be able to let him go again. She had to keep him safe in her arms until the end of time because she never wanted to experience that again.

The ache had been so painful that she had almost believed that her heart would stop beating in her chest. She never liked it when he had to leave Winterfell for long, but it was necessary. And she liked it even less during colder periods. The men of the north were more than capable of surviving in the cold, but she couldn’t help but worry. And that time her fears had almost came true.

She had recieved word of that they would depart from Castle Black and be back in Winterfell soon. The day after the heavy snowfalls had started. And it snowed, and it snowed, and it snowed. Two weeks had passed. And then three. There had been no sign of Ned’s party. Maester Luwin had assured her of that they would arrive in Winterfell soon and that she had no reason at all to worry for her husband, he could handle a bit of northern weather and the snow was simply delaying them a bit. And so another week had passed. And then another. The people of Winterfell had began to grow uneasy at that point. Even the usually so calm and collected maester had shown signs of being worried for the whereabouts of the lord and his men. And the children had began to ask for their father. She had promised them that Ned would be home soon, but she believed it less and less for every day that came and went. Still she had not allowed herself to think that her husband was dead and buried somewhere under the deep snow. Because just the thought of it was so unbearabe that it had given her trouble breathing.

But so one day the horns had sounded. There were riders at the gate. And a somewhat out of breath stable boy had came running to her with the message that Lord Stark was back. She had not believed it until she actually saw him. Had been so afraid of that there had been some sort of misunderstanding and that it wasn’t Ned.

But there she stood, with her arms around his neck and his face buried in her hair. He was very cold, she could feel it even through their clothes. And for once it was she who warmed him.

“I will avoid it as best as I can” he mumbled. “I can’t believe I’m holding you in my arms again.”

“Neither can I. And now I will never let you leave again.”

She looked up at him, studied every detail in his face, searched for some sign of that it was all a dream and that she would soon wake to find herself alone in her bed. And even though it felt too good to be true she could not find something that said that it wasn’t real.

He bent down and kissed her. She pressed herself as close to him as possible, desperate for his touch after having feared for so long that she would never feel him close to her again. He was usually so careful when he kissed her, always soft and considerate. But it was as if though nothing else mattered in that moment, only the feel of his mouth on hers. She didn’t want it to end, but eventually they had to break apart.

“You need something to eat and dry clothes” she whispered. 

“There is nothing I would like more” he said.

“Go to my chambers, they are the warmest. I will send up food and clothes for you.”

Ned frowned.

“Are you not going to join me, my lady?” he asked.

She smiled and cupped his face.

“I will join you shortly” she assured him. “But I need to find the children. No matter how much I would like to have you for myself now, they have worried themselves sick and they need to see you.”

A tired smile appeared on his face.

“I love you, Catelyn.”

“And I you.”


	6. A dark alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were actually two prompts for this bad boy. 1. Needing to kiss to hide from bad guys, and 2. Being unable to open their eyes for a few moments afterwards

Yeah, when she had decided to go out with Brandon and a couple of friends earlier that night she had not believed that it would end with running from the cops in the middle of the night. She didn’t even know where the rest of them were, it was only she and Ned, Brandon’s brother. They must have taken a different turn somewhere. She hoped they were okay.

She could still hear the cops somewhere behind them and she knew that they wouldn’t be able to run forever. Her lungs and legs were already burning, seven fucking hells, how long could those cops run? They had to hide somewhere or they would get caught. And the last thing she needed was to get arrested. But she didn’t know where to hide, she didn’t know the neighborhood very well. Had only been there once before with Cersei.

“Do you know this area?” she panted.

Ned glanced at her for a moment, not slowing down. She saw the panic on his face.

“I’ve never been here before” he responded. “I thought you were from here.”

“I’ve been here once!”

“Shit.”

They turned left and suddenly the streetlights were more sparse. Normally she would have felt uncomfortable in the dusky light, but at the moment it was perfect. They were still clearly visible, but it would probably be easier to hide there than at the well lit main street. Catelyn saw a small alley ahead of them and there didn’t seem to be any lights at all in there. She chansed a glance over her shoulder and didn’t see the cops even though she could hear them further back.

So when they were just beside it she grabbed Ned’s arm and pulled him into the alley. He stared at her.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Both of them were out of breath and she had to wait a second before answering. She felt like she was dying, she had to avoid running from authorities in the future. She had not trained enough for it.

“We can’t keep running” she breathed. “This is our best chance.”

She pulled her hood up and stuffed her hair into it. She had been told that her hair color was very beautiful, but it was unfortunately also very recognizable.

“And now what?”

She looked at him. That was a good question. She had no idea where to go from there. In a few seconds the cops would pass them and if they didn’t do anything they would most likely get caught.

“I don’t know” she admitted.

“I thought you had a plan!”

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. That made her a bit irritated.

“I’m sorry, but when I left my apartment I didn’t expect to get chased by cops” she hissed.

“So what are we gonna do?”

From what Brandon had told her his brother was a person who would rather die than break the law. And he had probably expected even less than her that they would be running from cops before the night was over. She found it a bit endearing despite the seriousness of the situation. And suddenly she came up with an idea.

“Kiss me” she said.

He froze and looked at her with a bewildered expression.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Catelyn, what the-”

She grabbed his shirt, pulled him to her and pressed her mouth to his. She pulled him back so that she had her back to the wall, hiding her further. She couldn’t help but smile against his lips when she felt how he kissed her back after only a moments hesitation.

She heard when the cops ran past them and disappeared down the street. They were safe for the moment. But still she couldn’t pull away from him. It was wrong, she knew that. He wasn’t her boyfriend, Brandon was. And he was very different from Brandon. Catelyn found that she liked the differences. 

After way too long he pulled away from her and she found herself unable to open her eyes at first. She didn’t want it to end. She wanted to keep feeling his hands on her body and his lips against hers. He had been so careful and considerate, yet at the same time sure of what he did. And she had loved every second of it.

“I’m sorry for that” he mumbled when she opened her eyes again and looked at him.

A slight blush covered his cheeks and she couldn’t help but smile at it. He was very sweet.

“I kissed you, not the other way around” she reminded him with a small laugh. “And it was necessary, wasn’t it?”

“I still shouldn’t have” he said, turning his eyes to the ground and refusing to look at her. “I mean, I should have stopped, you’re Brandon’s girlfriend.”

She raised a hand and tilted his chin up so that he had to look at her. He had grey eyes, soft like fog. She could have lost herself in those eyes. And suddenly she became aware of that they were still standing very close to each other.

“I am” she said softly. “But I enjoyed it.”

She reached up and kissed him again, much quicker that time. 

“And I might not be with Brandon for much longer” she said.

She had planned to break thing off with him for a while, even before he got her into a situation where she almost got arrested. And before she kissed his brother and found that she liked it a bit too much.

Ned stepped away from her.

“We should find the others“ he said, avoiding to answer her last words.

She could work with that. Considering how eagerly he had kissed her she didn’t think he found her too bad.

She reached down in her pocket and found that it was empty. She must have dropped it when they were running. Goddamnit. She should have taken a jacket with better pockets.

“Fuck” she muttered. “I’ve dropped my phone.”

“And Robert has mine” Ned said with a grimace.

“We’ll have to go back to where we were separated” she said. “They might be waiting for us there.”

And just as she said so she heard a sound that sounded very much like Cersei’s laugh. She walked past Ned out of the alley and saw the rest of them coming from the same street she and Ned had ran past just minutes earlier.

“Hey!” she shouted and waved.

They noticed her and looked up. 

“There you are!” Taena shouted. 

Catelyn walked towards them, couldn’t bring herself to run anymore. She would most likely be very sore when she woke up the next morning. Ned was just a few steps behind her.

A part of her was relieved over that finding them had not been hard, another part was disappointed over that she wouldn’t get to spend more tiem with only Ned. She had only met him a few times before, and suddenly she desperately wanted to get to know him better.

“We almost thought the cops had taken you” Cersei said when she reached them.

“Do you not trust us to run from cops?” Catelyn said and laughed. 

“Well, you have no experience in it” Robert said with a shrug.

“I usually don’t run from the law, no. But we found a good hiding spot” Catelyn responded and pointed towards where they had hidden.

“Didn’t they see you?” Brandon asked.

“No” Ned said. “Too stupid to look anywhere but forward.”

She met his eyes and smiled. Going into exactly how they had hidden was unnecessarry. But if she ever got into that situation again she knew exactly what she would do.


	7. Hidden behind a shelf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, two prompts. 1. Against a wall kiss, and 2. Following the kiss with a series of kisses down the neck

The library was almost always empty during that time of the day, but still Catelyn couldn’t help but think about what would happen if someone found them there. Not much probably, they were the Lord and Lady of Winterfell and they could do whatever they pleased, but the thought was still somewhat thrilling.

Ned pushed her backwards and her back collided with a bookshelf. Usually he would lift her up on a table and step between her legs. Being pinned tightly between his body and the solid surface behind her was something new, but it was also something welcome. She liked the feeling of him pressing against her to come as close as possible while kissing her firmly. 

They had been busy for a period of time. At day they had been drowning in work and at night they had been so exhausted that doing more than sleeping was impossible. They had not even slept in the same bedchamber, as Ned had insisted on that he wouldn’t want to wake her every night when he stumbled into bed long after the hour of the wolf. Which had lead to a few weeks without lovemaking of any sorts. 

So it was not strange that he kissed her with such urgency that she almost got dizzy. Or that she kissed him back with just as much urgency.

“I’ve missed you” she breathed when he moved his lips from her mouth to her jaw.

He only growled in response when she tangled one hand in his hair as he trailed hot kisses down her neck. She let her head fall back against the spines of the books behind her and closed her eyes as she felt his hot breath against the top of her breasts. For a moment she hated that they couldn’t undress so that she could feel his skin against hers as he kissed her in every place that was visible above the neckline of her gown.

The though of that maybe it would leave a mark when he sucked, almost bit, her collarbone crossed her mind and was gone just as quickly when she felt one of his hands between her legs, rubbing her through her gown. She moaned sharply at the sweet sensation. The aching between her legs was almost unbearable at that point and once more she wished that she had not been wearing a gown. 

“Ned, please.”

She was not sure if she was asking for him to touch her or fuck her, but either would have been perfect. As long as she could feel him where she needed him so desperately she would have done anything.

“Tell me what you want me to do” he said, raising his head.

“Anything, I do not care what. Just do something.”

He grinned at her.

“Are you sure, my lady?”

She was about to answer when they heard the door creak loudly. Both of them froze and listened intently. They were hidden between the large shelves, not visible from the entrance to the library. Maybe whoever it was would leave again quickly.

Earlier the thought of someone finding them had been exciting, but in the moment she cursed whoever had decided to come to the library just when she was about to get what she had longed for so long.

“Lord Stark?” a voice called.

Ned sighed very heavily and pulled away from her. And she had to keep herself from begging him to ignore it and stay with her like some whiny child.

“I will find you once this is done” he said. “I promise.”

And then he walked around the shelf. She looked after him, still hot and aching. It was ridiculous, she knew, to be irritated with that he had to do his duty. She would always be second to his duty. Even when she was so wanton that she feared she would go mad if she could not have him. 

The only thing she had to comfort herself with when she smoothed out her skirts and left the library tower was that maybe whatever it was that he was needed for would be over quickly so that he could come back to her and finish what they had started.


	8. One man she does not love and one man she loves with all her heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three prompts for this one. 1. "We can never be together" kiss, 2. Forbidden kiss, and 3. In secret kiss

Catelyn had thought that she would be happy with Brandon. He had been so charming and promised her that she would have everything she desired. Her life would be a sweet one, a happy one. He had given up on that promise quite quickly. Just a few moons after she had arrived at Winterfell with their son, actually. In the beginning it had been well, he had been the Brandon she had known during their betrothal. With his easy smile and loud laugh. But as time passed it had changed. And definitely not for the better.

As it was after five years he barely paid her any mind outside of her bedchamber and when it was strictly necessary. Because he still came to her chamber to claim what was is regularly. Yes, that he did often and happily. That he enjoyed. In the beginning he had pleasured her as well and she had been more than thrilled over that because she was aware of that most men did not care for a woman’s pleasure. He had stopped with that too, he only came to spend his seed in her and then leave again. And she was glad for that, the thought of him touching her was no longer an exciting thought and more of a thought she looked at with disgust. She had no wish to get touched by a man who did not care for her. 

But at least he had given her her children. Robb and Sansa, the lights of her miserable existance. They were beautiful and brilliant. They made the grey and cold life worth living. And Ned. Her Ned. She would not have met Ned if it had not been for Brandon. Ned, the mand she thought of when Brandon pushed into her. Ned, her best friend as well as her lover. Ned, the man who cared for her and touched her in all the right places. Ned, the man she loved. Without Ned she probably would have been unhappy, but as it was, she was quite satisfied. She could endure Brandon as long as she had Ned

She remembered exactly when it had started. It had been before Sansa, and sometimes she looked at her daughter and wondered which brother she belonged to. She hoped that it was Ned. Sansa would be better off with Ned as her father, that was a thing to be sure of. In the beginning they had been friends. He had talked to her when Brandon ignored her and made her laugh with his wry humour. 

She remembered the first time he had kissed her, when Brandon had been away, visiting the Rills. She remembered the first time they had made love, the day after the first kiss. She remembered all the times thay had talked about how they could not continue only to keep going because not being with each other was no possibility. She remembered every little moment, every secret smile, every muffled moan and every “I love you” whispered in the dark of night when the rest of the castle was asleep. Everything that had passed right under Brandon’s nose. 

All those things she thought of when Brandon told her that he had intentions of betrothing Ned to Barbrey Ryswell.

“What?” she said.

It felt like a knife in her heart. No. Brandon had taken everything else from her. He could not take Ned from her. The only comfort she had beside her children.

“Yes, it is past time he weds and leaves Winterfell” Brandon muttered. 

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t have anything to say to him. She wanted to curse him. Wanted to strike him and scream at him. But he was the Lord of Winterfell, he was Ned’s brother and he could do whatever he wished. She had never gone so far as to hate her lord husband, it had only been contempt. But in that moment she hated him. The hatred burned in her and suddenly she could not stand to look at Brandon. He had promised her every sweet thing life had to offer and then he had taken it all from her, one thing after another. And she had let him. For it was his right. But it was cruel all the same.

“Would you please leave me?” she said as she pulled her nightshift over her head.

“You have no right to demand things of me.”

“I am not demanding, I am asking. Of course you may stay, if that is your wish, my lord.”

She would rather throw herself from the highest tower than sleep in the same bed as him, but that she could not tell him. So instead she forced herself to look at him, her husband. She smoothed out her expression, pushed away the anger and the sadness. 

“It is not.”

He sometimes looked at her like she was some foul creature that had crawled up from the ground. She had no worth at all in his eyes. She was just there to mother children for him. Catelyn no longer took any notice to those looks. She knew her worth, and she knew that the only looks that mattered were those that Ned gave her. He looked at her like she was the most divine creature on earth. And she loved him.

She could feel the tears burning in her eyes the moment he had closed the door. Her light and love, the one thing that had made Brandon’s behavior bearable. The one person she could truly talk to, the one person who truly knew and loved her. And the only person she wanted to see in that moment.

She left the bed and pulled a rober over her nightshift. She padded quietly through the dark corridors towards Ned’s chambers. They were closer to her own than Brandon’s was, and she could easily get there undiscovered. She didn’t bother knocking anymore, just opened the door and slipped inside. 

Ned was still awake, as he always was. And he smiled softly and rose from his chair when he looked up and saw her. That smile, that unknowing smile, was the only thing it took to break her.

He immediately walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms, holding her close to him. Her rock. Her safe rock.

“Cat?” he whispered into her hair. “What happened?”

She heard the worry in his voice, but she sobbed so hard that she could not get out any words. Brandon would have been angry with her for being so difficult, but Ned understood. He whispered comforting words and held her until she was calm enough to talk again. And she loved him for it.

“Brandon intends to wed you to Barbrey Ryswell and send you away from Winterfell” she mumbled. 

“He has not spoken to me about something like that” Ned immediately said. “I’m sure it is nothing to worry about, Cat.”

She looked up at him, and he looked back at her with his soft grey eyes. Always so calm and collected.

“No, Ned. He told me. Just now.”

Ned seemed to consider for a moment. 

“I supposed it was inevitable. I had to marry eventually and if I did not pick a wife he would do it for me.”

“How can you be so calm?” Catelyn forced out.

She had felt like her world had fallen apart, and he only looked like it was a mild inconvenience. And for a second her heart fell in her chest. Did he not love her? Had she only imagined it to stand out with her miserable marriage?

“I am not” Ned replied, pulling her close again. “I am furious. I would do anything to make Brandon change his mind. But I can’t. And it pains me more than I can say.”

She did hear in his voice that he meant it. He was opposite to Brandon in that way. When Brandon felt something he expressed it very loudly, Ned’s emotions were more quiet. And still she felt them so much more. And cared for them so much more.

“Do you love me?” she asked.

“More than anything.”

When she turned her face up towards him once more he kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him, desperately deepened the kiss as much as she could. Maybe, just maybe, he would not leave if she just held him close enough to her. Maybe everything would be well if she kissed him like the world was about to end. It felt fitting. For in a way her world would fall apart when she saw the man she loved married off to another woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna push for my tumblr once more because I'm annoying. But anyways, visit my tumblr @ loverofnedandcat for more nedlyn stuff and the opportunity to send me prompts. Thanks for reading <3


	9. A great love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this one was True love kiss

She heard the door to her bedchamber open and turned so that she could look at him.

“I did not mean to wake you, my lady” he said when he noticed that she was awake. “Forgive me.”

She smiled.

“You did not wake me, my lord. I fear I have been having trouble falling asleep lately.”

Her husband frowned at that. He frowned easily and at most everything.

“Would you like me to leave?”

“No” she said softly. “I sleep easier with you.”

That was no lie. She did sleep much easier with him. And she suspected that the reason for her lack of sleep the previous nights had been due to his absence in her bedchamber.

She watched as he undressed and then joined her. He pulled her close and wrapped her tightly in his arms. She rested her head on his chest, listened to his steady heartbeat and enjoyed the feeling of his warm presence.

Catelyn couldn’t recall exactly when it had changed. She couldn’t recall the moment when she had realized that she loved Ned Stark. But she knew that she did, and that she did so with all her heart.

It was nothing like in the songs. It was not wild and passionate. But she found it beautiful all the same, because it was real. They were very different, but she liked that. And the young girl in her was delighted by all the ways they fit together. Like the way she fit so perfectly tucked in under his chin, or how he was just the right height for kissing her forehead. And how well they could work together, they solved most issues that came upon them. 

When they had married she had thought him to be solemn and cold. And while he could be, he wasn’t that way to her. He was quite warm, and kind. His smiles came more often with her than with anyone else. And they were very sweet. She loved his small smiles. And most of all the ones that were for her only.

She liked to think that there were certain parts of him that only she had seen. That some things were for her eyes only. Just as there were things about her that only he knew. 

Yes, there were many things about Ned Stark that she loved. At times she thought that they were too many to count. And she hoped that he felt the same thing when he looked at her. She believed he did. 

She had never said it out loud. Had trusted that he knew anyway, that he could tell. But suddenly she was overcome with a desperate need to make sure that he did know. She wanted him to know.

“I love you” she said.

She raised her head to look into his eyes and as she did so he caught her lips in a soft kiss. There was nothing urgent or desperate in it, nothing wanting or demanding. Only warmth, only love. And she tried her very best to put into it all those feelings that she had no name for, all those things that she could not say because she had no words for them

“And I you.”

It wasn’t more dramatic than that. But it was great all the same.


	10. Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was Public kiss

Alcohol really made some people way too comfortable. And Catelyn wouldn’t have minded if it wasn’t for that the subject for their attentions was her husband.   
  
The third one for the night was so young, couldn’t be much older than Robb. Almost a child. On top of that Catelyn believed that was Robert’s current girlfriend. Not that it meant much, she would be replaced in a few days, but still. She was a lot touchier than appropriate. And those eyes, that disgustingly sweet smile. It was enough to make anyone sick. And Ned didn’t even seem to realize her intentions. Catelyn certainly did.

Catelyn did well in large crowds, she had no problem at all with the yearly event for all the large companies in Westeros. She even looked forward to it, meeting other people in the business was always a joy. But at the moment she wanted nothing more but to take Ned and bring him back up to their room. Away from all the people.   
  
“She looks like she’s my age.”   
  
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Robb. He seemed as disgusted by it as she was.

“Too young to know her place” Catelyn muttered.

She wasn’t pro judging people. They could do whatever they wanted with their lives. As long as they stayed out of her marriage. But that seemed very hard.

“Well, are you just gonna let her do that?”

“I can’t really do anything about it, can I?” she said. 

“Not while standing here, you can’t.”

He was right. She couldn’t do a thing about it as long as she stood on the sideline and watched. 

“You’ll have to excuse me for a moment, son. I have a thing I need to do.”

Robb winked. That actually brought a smile to her face, he looked ridiculous.

“Good luck” he chuckled.

Catelyn made her way through the crowd towards Ned and that girl. Put on her most convincing smile.  
She snaked an arm around Ned’s waist so that they stood a lot closer to each other than what necessary. But he was hers, no one else’s. And she would stand close to him if she wanted to.

“Hi, Cat” he said and smiled, clearly not minding the closeness.

She didn’t answer him, only stretched out her free hand towards the girl. 

“Catelyn Stark, nice to meet you.”

Tully Stark, actually, but only Stark felt more fitting for the occasion. The girl shook her hand politely and said her name. Catelyn forgot it the moment she had said it, it wasn’t a name she had ever heard before. 

“Stark?” she then said. “Are you related?”

She nodded at Ned. So she wasn’t only a whore, she was stupid as well. Maybe Catelyn hadn’t had any reason to worry after all. Okay, she wouldn’t have had any reason to worry even if the girl had been the most beautiful and clever person ever, she knew that Ned would never. He loved her.

“We’re married” Catelyn said.

She couldn’t deny the satisfaction in getting to say it. Was she being shallow? Maybe a bit, but she wouldn’t tolerate women flirting with her husband. 

“Oh.”

The disappointment was visible and Catelyn had to hold back a smile. 

“It was nice talking to you, but I think I need to go find Robert” the girl said once she had recovered. 

So it really was Robert’s girlfriend.

“I think I saw him leave with someone” Catelyn said and frowned. “Going up to the rooms. But I might be mistaken.”

She had actually seen Robert take the elevator up with someone. But the reason to why she actually told the girl was pure pettiness. 

“Son of a–“

She walked away from them and Catelyn couldn’t help chuckling. She was very happy for that Robb had told her to do something about it.

“Are you enjoying yourself, my love?” Ned asked and kissed the top of her head. 

“Not so much before, but now I am.”

She reached up and kissed him. Definitely too long for what was appropriate, and people were probably staring but it was hard to acknowledge that when she liked it so much. She let the hand that wasn’t around him rest on his jaw and she felt his warm hands at her sides. 

“You’re mine” she whispered when she broke away from him. “And I won’t let anyone forget that.”

~*~

“Would you look at that, we made it into the magazines this year too” she said with a smile.

Reading the tabloids the day after the event was always interesting. She considered sitting on the bed in their hotel room and reading it all together while trying to figure out what was true and what wasn’t to be the height of their trip to King’s Landing. There was a lot of gossip spreading. She usually did not appreciate what untrue things were spreading about them, but it seemed there was some truth that year.  
She had absolutely not noticed that someone took that picture. Normally she would have been annoyed by the lack of privacy, but as it was it only served to spread her message. And she really should have known it wouldn’t pass without noticing.

**Mrs. Stark isn’t shy about taking what is hers**

Damn right she wasn’t.

“What are they saying now?” Ned sighed. 

“Nothing I can argue with, for once” she smiled.

“And what is that?”

“That you belong to me.”

He laughed.

”I really can’t argue with that either.”


	11. Truth or dare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was kiss on a dare

She hated that stupid game. Saw no point in it at all. But apparently you had to play in order not to ruin the mood. 

“Cat, truth or dare.”

An immediate feeling of dread washed over her. She didn’t know what Robert might have come up with. Whatever it was she wouldn’t like it. And she decided that she didn’t want to spill any secrets, she would rather do something. 

“Dare” Catelyn said.

She immediately regretted her decision when she saw the grin on Robert’s face. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Ned, who sat next to her.

“I dare you to kiss Ned.”

She had never seen Ned blush, but in that moment his face flushed. And she suspected that she was blushing as well, she had always been prone to blushing at the worst occasions.   
Catelyn looked at Ned, and he looked back at her. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to kiss him. She did want to kiss him. She had thought of it for a while, even dreamed of it. But she had not imagined their first kiss being like that, she had thought of something more romantic. And suddenly she wasn’t so sure about that he wanted to kiss her. It didn’t look like it. Her heart sunk in her chest. 

“She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to” Ned said, more to Robert than to her.

“I don’t mind” she said. 

She didn’t. She didn’t mind at all. She would gladly do it. But he didn’t seem like he wanted it. And if he didn’t want it she wouldn’t do it

“But I understand if you don’t want it” she added.

“Oh my gods, just kiss!” Cersei said. “It’s no big deal!”

Except it was a big deal. She had thought of that kiss for months. Since before she broke up with Brandon. She liked Ned. And she didn’t want it to be all wrong.  
And before she knew it Ned leaned forward and kissed her. She wanted to pull him closer, kiss him more deeply. She wanted to make it the perfect first kiss. But she didn’t. She kept herself calm. It was over too quickly for her liking, but it was a start. And it hadn’t been bad  
She smiled at Ned. He was avoiding her eyes, blushing even more than before. She could take that later. After everyone else had left. Because she had a feeling of that maybe he had not found the kiss too bad either. Maybe the game wasn’t so terrible after all. 

“So, Dacey...” Catelyn said. “Truth or dare?”


	12. Spiderman AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes another batch of drabbles!
> 
> The promps for this one was 1. Spider-Man kisses (Upside down kisses) and 2. Lips brushing against each other’s briefly, unsure of whether or not to kiss, before someone finally connects in a deep kiss
> 
> An attempt at a Spiderman AU despite knowing nothing about Spiderman haha

Catelyn hadn’t really understood all the hype about Spiderman. It just hadn’t interested her. But as it was she had ran into Spiderman three times in one week. And it was getting ridiculous. People really tried to meet Spiderman and wanted nothing more than to meet him. And she, who was just trying to live her life, was running into him every other day.

“Are you following me?” she asked. “I know you’re a superhero and all, but that’s still kinda creepy. And illegal.”

The first time had been at least mostly justified. She had walked into someone, accidentally been pushed out into the street and he had came swooping in to save the day. That she had actually been grateful for. But two days ago when she had been walking to work she had seen him looking at her from where he sat on a building across the street. And know she met him again.

“I’m just making sure you’re getting home safely” he said. 

He had been crawling along a wall behind her when she noticed him and stopped walking. And she was almost sure of that he had not intended for her to see him. But she had. And she wasn’t scared, because it was Spiderman, but it was still really weird. 

“This city has a population of like eight million, why are you making sure I get home safely?” Catelyn said. 

“Most are not stupid enough to walk through dark alleys during the nights” he responded, and she could her the amusement in his voice. “You are.”

“I’ve walked here more times than I can count” she snorted. “And nothing’s ever happened. I don’t need your protection.”

“You would be dead without me.”

“That’s true, but you don’t need to follow me around.”

Not being able to see his face was starting to get annoying. 

“I’m not following you around.”

“Do you really want me to believe that?”

“It would be nice if you did.”

She sighed and continued walking. Maybe he would leave her be in the future if she just walked away. She saw him in the corner of her eye. Not walking, but crawling along the wall like some insect. She understood that being able to climb walls was kind of his thing, but seriously. How extra could a person be?

“You know, if you want to hang out why don’t you take me for coffee or something instead of following me in the middle of the night?” Catelyn said and stopped once more to look at him. 

“That would blow my cover. No one can know who I am.”

“So we’re just gonna keep on doing this?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s weird. Just tell me your name. I promise I won’t tell anyone else.”

It was true. If he told her she would just live with that she was the only person who knew Spider-Man’s identity and feel good about it.

He seemed to consider for a moment. 

“My name is Ned” he then said. “Okay, I told you my name. Now you have to tell me yours.”

It had been surprisingly easy to get him to reveal his name. She wondered if she could get him to take off his mask as well. 

“Catelyn” she said with a smile. “But I still feel that this is unfair.”

“How?” he asked curiously. 

“You can see my face. I can’t see yours.”

“I told you my name. That’s already too much.”

“Alright then. Goodnight, Ned.”

She turned away and continued walking. She had almost reached the end of the alley when he popped up in front of her. Not standing on the ground, but hanging upside down. And Catelyn found herself looking into a pair of grey eyes. 

“You really could have just walked” she laughed. “No need for all the Spiderman stuff.”

“But I am Spiderman.”

He had a very nice smile. And his eyes were even prettier when he smiled. She liked Ned a lot better than Spiderman.

“No. You’re Ned.”

“And you’re Catelyn” he said softly.

Only then did she realize that their faces were very close to each other. 

“Cat” she whispered. “Call me Cat.”

If she was going to continue seeing him she wanted him to know what she liked to be called. 

“Okay.”

And before she quite knew what she was doing she reached up, as if though to kiss him. And she was going to, but then she hesitated. Their lips barely brushed against each other for a moment. But then he raised a hand and placed it at the back of her head, pulling her closer and kissing her more firmly. She had never kissed someone upside down before and it took her a second to work it out, but after that she found that she liked kissing him.

“Next time this happens I want to do it properly” she said when he pulled away.

“And what does properly mean?” he asked. 

“That I don’t want you to hang upside down. I’m not a fan of Spiderman.”

He laughed.

“I’ve noticed. Can I have your number so that I might have a chance to kiss you without being Spiderman?”

She pulled up an old receipt from her bag and managed to dig up a pen as well. She wrote down her number and gave it to him. 

“I really need to get home now, but I expect a call soon” she said. 

“I won’t keep you waiting, Cat.”

“Good.”


	13. You choose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was Kiss in the middle of a fight

It had been years since she was last so angry with him. Their marriage was a peaceful one, arguments rarely went past the point of disagreement. But now they had not spoken to each other in days. And the few times she looked at him she could feel the anger flare up again. How had he even dared suggest such a thing? And then gotten angry with her when she was upset? Of course she was upset! How could she not be? When he said that he thought of fostering one of her sons elsewhere. He refused to send away his boy, the bastard, but he saw no problem with sending away one of their sons, one she had carried for him. And as if that hadn’t been enough he had asked her which one of them she thought to be most suited for it. He had asked her which one of her sons she would send to be fostered away from her.

She was doing needlework with Sansa and Arya, almost having forgotten the dark cloud that followed her for a moment, when a maid came to her.

“My lady, Lord Stark requests your presence in his solar” she said.

She was sure of that the staff had noticed the tension between them. Mostly from that both of them had been in foul moods since their fight five days past. And Catelyn could feel the anger rise in her the moment the maid had spoken. He was brave to request anything of her after the last request he had put forward. And he was a damn coward for not asking her in person. 

“Why does he not come for me himself?” she asked, perhaps a bit sharper than intended for the maid flinched.

“I do not know, my lady” she mumbled. “Shall I tell him that?”

The girl looked terrified, like she wanted to beg Catelyn to just go so that she wouldn’t have to tell Ned that his wife had refused him. In other words he was also in a bad mood, he would never talk in an unpleasant manner to the staff otherwise. But still Catelyn was tempted to let the girl carry that message to Ned, he had no right to be angry with her for wanting her children with her.

“No. I can tell him so myself. Thank you.”

Because unlike her husband she was no coward. She left Sansa and Arya in the company of Septa Mordane, and then she walked through the keep towards his solar. She stopped before the door and took a deep breath to calm herself. Then she walked inside. He looked at her, but the usual warmth and softness were far away. She was not in her husband’s presence, she was in Lord Stark’s presence. And he wanted her to be aware of that. But she was Lady Stark and she had seen the lord’s face way too many times to be afraid of it.

“You took your time” he said coolly and rose from his chair.

“I would not have come at all if I didn’t fear you would frighten that poor girl half to death if she came with that message. She was already trembling.”

He shot her a sour look.

“You should not take out your frustrations with me on others” she added, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I was not aware of that you could tell me what I should and should not do.”

“I cannot. But I can advice you. And you best take that advice. Your people admire you a great deal, but this behaviour is not the reason for that.”

“Those are brave words, my lady.”

She could hear how he gave much emphasis to the courtesy at the end. That was always something he did. When he was angry with her he retreated back to cool courtesies instead of using her name or nickname.

“Suggesting that I should be the one to choose which one of my children to send away is even braver, my lord“ she said as calmly as she could manage. “I suppose that is why you wanted me here. You have calmed down enough to continue this discussion.”

He only watched her in silence, waited for her to continue speaking. It was infuriating that he was such a coward that he couldn’t even be the one to speak first when it was he who had summoned her, not the other way around. He was surprisingly toothless for a wolf. 

“Okay, I can begin” she snorted. “I want you to be aware of that this has two possible outcomes. The first is that you back down and we forget this ever happened. The second is that you will have to rip the son you choose from my arms and I will not forgive you.”

“I do not at all understand your resistance, my lady. It could bring a strong bond between House Stark and a house of our choosing. I was fostered with Robert in the Vale and it brought Stark, Baratheon and Arryn closer than our three houses have ever been.”

“I do understand your reasoning, you do not need to explain that to me. But our children should stay together. Family is more important than anything.”

“Robert is family to me. We grew up as brothers.”

“I see that. But how close were you with the brothers and sister of your blood?”

She could see how he tensed at that.

“I loved my siblings, and you would do well to not suggest otherwise” he said.

“I do not suggest otherwise. I know you loved your siblings. I am simply asking you how well you knew them after a few years in the Vale.”

He didn’t respond to that. Only glared at her with hard eyes. Hard and grey as the stone in the walls.

“I did not know you then. But I knew Brandon. And I know that he could say so much about Benjen and Lyanna, but that he could barely say anything about you. Because he no longer knew you. You were so very far away from the rest of them. And I know that I never want any of my children to not be able to say something about one of their brothers.”

And that was not even mentioning that he could send away one of their children, but kept the bastard close and refused to foster him elsewhere. She would keep that out of it for as long as she could, it would be harder to come back after that. But she had a feeling of that it would come to it eventually. As it always did. The darkhaired boy with the mysterious mother whose shadow would always lay between them. They danced around it, forgot that it was there sometimes. But it was always present.

“Family, Duty, Honor” he almost spat out. “You’re so narrow minded at times. This is about family. This is about ensuring the future of our family. Allies can be just as important as close family.”

He walked around the desk so that they were closer to each other.

She wanted to shout at him to not take her words into his mouth in that way. Those were the words she had been raised with, those were the words she wanted her children to live by. And to hear her husband say them like that was so infuriating that she could not put words on it. But that was not what she told him.

“Winter is coming” she said slowly, making sure to look steadily into his eyes as she spoke. “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Is that not what you always say, my lord? What is their pack if not each other?”

She did not get an answer to that. She got a kiss instead. For a moment she wanted to push him away, but she did not. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. The usual caution and tenderness was nowhere in sight, and she was glad for it. Kissing him firmly was easier than arguing. And she had missed him at night. She needed him so much that she was willing to put away the anger for a moment just so that she could let him take care of her. 

Before she knew it he had lifted her up on the desk and she instinctively spread her legs for him. She wanted it so desperately that she was aching, and he kissed her so deeply that she almost forgot about the words spoken just a minute earlier. But only almost. And when one of his hands grabbed her skirts to pull them up she stopped him and pulled away. She thought that she could see a twinge of shame in his eyes, but she did not know if it was from how he had spoken to her or if he believed that he had forced something she did not want upon her.

“Can we agree that this discussion is done?” she asked softly, raising a hand to cup his cheek. “We will not come to an agreement.”

And she wanted to weep at the sight of her husband. Not Lord Stark, but her Ned. The soft eyes of the man she loved so deeply.

“Yes” he said.

None of them would apologize and he was just as aware of that as she was. Agreeing on that they would not come to an agreement was the best thing they could do.

She kissed him again, much softer than the first time. 

“Good. Because what is our pack if not each other?”


	14. Professionalism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was Not being able to speak properly after the kiss ends

Catelyn rested her head in her hands when he entered her office. She didn’t even look up at him, she only sighed and kept her eyes on the papers in front of her on the desk.

“Cat?” he said to get her attention.

“Whatever it is that you want, make it quick” she responded. “I don’t have time.”

“I was just going to ask what you want to eat.”

She was hungry, he knew her well enough for it to be obvious. But he still knew that she would refuse food, as she tended to do when she was stressed. And his job for the moment was to get her to eat something despite that, because she needed to eat.

“No. I don’t have time.”

“That was not an answer. What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t have time, I’ll eat later” she said irritated.

“You’ve said that you don’t have time three times now, I get it. But I’m not asking you to leave what you’re doing, I’ll bring food for you if you just tell me what you want.”

“Ned, stop” she said firmly, still refusing to look at him. “I’ll eat later.”

“You won’t eat later.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she looked up at him.

“Then so be it, it won’t kill me. Get out.”

“Not until you’ve told me what you want to eat.”

“You’re really damn annoying, has anyone ever told you that?” she hissed.

“Catelyn, you need to eat.”

“No.”

Ned’s wife was extremely stubborn. And he often admired her for it, but at times she was way too stubborn for her own good. 

He walked over to her and walked around the desk. He leaned against it and waited. She would give in soon enough. Because she was hungry and her bad mood testified to that. 

She ignored him and kept working. He just patiently waited for her to get over her resistance. He had learned to wait it out when she did that.

“Catelyn. All you need to do is tell me what you want.”

She glanced at him and donned a less irritated expression.

“Go buy lunch for yourself, my love. I don’t need anything. I promise.”

Ned chuckled.

“Lying to my face is a bold move.”

“Accusing me of being a liar is a bold move” she countered, smiling slightly.

She was beginning to warm up which was a clear improvement. But he still had some more work to do. And he knew exactly what is was he needed to do. He leaned down and kissed her. They rarely did so at work, since the walls to their offices were made of glass. But whatever it took to get her to eat something.

When he pulled away from her she opened her mouth like she wanted to say something. But nothing but some low frustrated noise came out and she frowned when she pursed her lips.

“Do you want a bagel?”

And she looked at him like she had never loved him more. She was very cute when her face turned all soft. She was always cute, but especially then.

“Yes, please” she mumbled. “What would I do without you?”

“Starve?” Ned suggested.

“Most likely.”

He kissed the top of her head and when he did so he also snatched out the clip that held her hair into place. Beautiful red locks tumbled down her shoulders and he moved away quickly to get out of her reach.

“There’s this word, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard it, but it’s ‘professionalism’” she muttered as she stroke hair out of her face. “You need a bit of it.”

But her face broke into a smile the second after she had said it.

“I’m highly professional” he said. 

“You’re a thief.”

“But a professional one.”

It was true. He had mastered the art of taking stuff out of her hair. Clips, ties, bobby pins, ribbons, he could do it all. Very professionally, if he could say so himself.

She shook her head.

“Can you go get lunch now so that I can actually get something done?”

“Of course.”

“Wait, I want my clip back” she said as he turned to leave.

“No.”

“Eddard Stark, get back here!”

Ned smiled at his wife where she sat behind her desk before closing the door.

“No.”


	15. A sword through the heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Person A kisses person B as they die in their arms

It was so ironic that Catelyn could almost laugh in the middle of all the pain. Her husband, Eddard of House Stark, mauled by a wolf. But the laugh never came, only the tears. She wanted to stay strong for him in his last moments, to ease the pain he must have been feeling. He was the one who was dying, and still it felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest.

In the beginning there had been some small chance of that just maybe he would recover. But the bleeding hadn’t stopped, he bled through bandage after bandage. Getting paler and paler, speaking more and more rarely. None of them said it, but they both knew. And so did the rest of Winterfell. The castle had never been so quiet.

“My lord, would you like milk of the poppy?” Maester Luwin asked gently. “To ease the pain.”

_To ease the passing_ , Catelyn thought and she almost believed that she would die as well. Breathing was suddenly very hard, and all she wanted was to flee the room. She didn’t want to see, didn’t want to feel. But she could not leave Ned. He needed someone there with him. And who was better than her? She had shared almost half her life with him. It was only right that she was with him in the end as well. Leaving him would be selfish.

“No” Ned muttered. “I would like to be here in my last moments.”

She also wanted him to be there. But he was in pain. And she didn’t want him to be in pain.

“Ned” she said softly. “It will make you more comfortable.”

“I’ll be dead before the night falls. Comfort is not my highest priority.”

Catelyn could feel herself flinch at his words. The calm acceptance in his voice filled her with dread. She knew it to be true, but hearing him say it made it final. He would die. Her husband would die. She belived that a sword through the heart would have been less painful than the realization of that. Because a sword through her heart would have killed her, it would have been over quickly. The pain she felt wasn’t quick, and it wouldn’t kill her. She would live with it.

“Then I am afraid there is nothing I can do for you, my lord” Luwin said, his voice thick with grief.

He had served Ned during all of his years as lord. And he probably had not thought that he would outlive him. But he would. And so would she. Her husband. Who had always been so strong, and warm, and alive. She would outlive him.

“Thank you, Luwin” Ned said when Luwin turned to leave. “For your years of service.”

“It has been a joy, my lord.”

And then he left. It couldn’t be much left, if Ned was saying his farewells. It would be just him and her, until it was just her.

She took one of his hands and felt how cold it was. He had kept her warm for so many years, but the warmth was leaving him. And soon it would be gone. She could feel the tears burning in her eyes and she let them fall.

“You are terribly cruel, my love” she whispered. “To leave me in this manner.”

“I had no intention of doing so” he said and attempted a smile that faltered quickly. “Forgive me.”

She didn’t think that she would ever forgive him for the abrupt ending of their marriage. That she would ever forgive him for leaving her to live with an aching heart for the rest of her days.

“Do you want me to put more wood on the fire?” she asked instead of answering. “You are so cold.”

“No need to.”

Both of them were quiet after that. She just held his hand and prayed for another moment, again and again. It was cruel to want him to live in such pain, but she was not ready to let him go. She would never be. And so she prayed, to the old gods and the new, that they would let him live a little longer.

“Can you promise me something?” he asked.

She would have promised him anything.

“Yes.”

“Promise me that you will marry again.”

“No” she said immediately. “Many things I can do, but not that.”

She did not want anyone else. She had a husband. He would always be her husband. He frowned when he looked at her and let out a sigh.

“You... deserve love” he said slowly, like he was speaking to a child that did not understand. “And warmth. I don’t want you to be lonely.”

She leaned down and kissed him. For what was most likely the last time. She didn’t want to think of it, but she also couldn’t avoid it. When she straightened her back to sit up again he raised a hand and grabbed her braid. It had fallen over her shoulder when she leaned down. She didn’t understand why he did so, but he didn’t seem to want to let go. So she sat half leaned over him.

“I have love and warmth” she said. “You have given me enough for a hundred lifetimes. And I won’t be lonely, I will have our children. And grandchildren, in time. I am in good hands, I will be okay. You can rest.”

“You will come to me, will you not?” he asked. “When the time is right.”

“Yes. I will come to you. That I can promise. Will you wait for me?”

“Yes.”

She laid down next to him and pulled him into her arms, not caring about the blood. She wanted to be of some small comfort to him. But there was nothing she could say to make it better, so she just held him close to her and pressed soft kisses to the top of his head.

“I love you” she mumbled. “With all my heart.”

He did not answer.


	16. Making a deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Person A peppering kisses everywhere on person B’s face before finally a long and slow kiss on their lips

“Cat, it’s time to wake up.”

“Not yet” she mumbled without opening her eyes.

She hated early mornings with a burning passion. Who had came up with the idea that work days had to start so terribly early? Catelyn wanted whoever it was to burn in the deepest of the seven hells. They had not done the world a favor.

She smiled when she felt how he kissed the tip of her nose. 

“You say that every morning. But despite that it’s time.”

“And what if I don’t want it to be?”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“You can be the boss of a lot of things, my love, but not even you stand above time.”

“Too bad. I think life would be better if I stood above time.”

A kiss to her cheek. She enjoyed it, but it definitely didn’t make her want to get out of bed. If anything she wanted to stay in bed longer and enjoy the company of her husband. 

“I’m sure it would be, but you don’t.”

Catelyn blindly reached out and found his warm form where he sat on her bedside. She pulled him down next to her and snuggled up against him with her arms around his neck.

“We can take the morning off” she suggested.

She really wouldn’t say no to having the house to themselves for an hour or two before work. It was actually quite tempting.

“We have a meeting with Bolton at nine” Ned said and kissed her other cheek.

But he made no attempt to move away from her.

“He’s made us wait five weeks” Catelyn reminded him. “I think paying him back by moving the meeting forward a few hours is completely justified.” 

“Then we are no better than him.”

He kissed her jaw and she sighed at the feeling, pressing herself closer to him.

“I can assure you of that Bolton postponed this meeting to assert dominance, not to give his wife morning sex. And being a loving and caring husband is very different from whatever the hell it is that he’s doing.”

She was confident they would get that deal no matter what they did. It was basically done already, she didn’t know what Roose Bolton was trying to do.

He kissed her on the lips then and she eagerly opened her mouth for him when he slid his tongue along her bottom lip. She knew that she had him then and she couldn’t help but smile against his lips. Immediately all sorts of ideas about what they could do popped up in head. She wondered how much of it they would have time for.

“Will you let them know that we’ll be late?” she asked when he pulled away.

She actually opened her eyes then and found him smiling at her.

“Yeah.”

She climbed out of the bed and put on a robe over her pajamas.

“Good. I’ll get the kids up while you do that. And then I expect to get taken care of for being good and getting out of bed.”

“Rewarding you for getting out of bed by taking you back to bed sounds ineffective.”

“Then don’t take me back to bed” she smiled and then she slipped out of the room.


	17. Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Person A is sitting on Person B’s lap and tries to kiss them but B is busy and A is sad and moves to get up but B grabs their hips and pulls them back, kissing them, and lets A cuddle into them

”Catelyn” Ned sighed. ”I have a lot work I need to do. This city is chaos right now due to all the people that are already beginning to arrive for the wedding. And with the king out hunting, I am the one responsible for everything.”

Their daughter would marry the prince. And after that Ned would resign and come with her home. Back to Winterfell. She could scarcely wait, it would be so good to have him with her again.

”I am not stopping you from doing them” she said and leaned back against him.

She wasn’t stopping him. She was sitting in his lap, yes, but he could still write on his papers and read his books. She was slightly in his way, she could admit to that, but he could still work. 

”No, but you are distracting me” he groaned.

”It has been so long since I last saw you” Catelyn mumbled. ”I find myself greedy for your touch.”

He barely seemed to hear her. She could see that his focus was elsewhere. And she understood that he had a lot to do, but she still could not help but feel a bit neglected. They spent most of their time away from each other and still he could not lend her a few minutes of his day.

She turned her face towards him to kiss him and frowned when he moved his head away from hers. And he didn’t even seem to notice that he had done it. He only picked up a pen and wrote something down as she looked at him, trying to keep the hurt from showing on her face. He had never been so disinterested in her. Had he grown bored of her after just a day together? 

“I apologize for bothering you, my lord” she said quietly and moved to stand up. 

Before Catelyn had stood up straight his hands were on her hips and he had pulled her down again. Feeling very confused she turned her head around to look at him he kissed her. She exhaled softly in surprise, but welcomed his advance. 

“Stay” he said. “I want you here with me.”

“Are you sure? I can leave if that is what you wish.”

She did not want to stay with him if he would rather not have her there.

He slipped an arm around her waist to keep her right where she was and pressed a soft kiss to her neck.

“I am completely sure, I value your council, Cat. And I will be finished much quicker if you help me.”

The worry that had been on her mind earlier was completely gone when she leaned against him again, smiling that time. 

Just as she had done so it knocked on the door to his solar and she let out a sigh as she once more started to move away from him. He was a very comfortable chair, but unfortunately she couldn’t sit on his lap when there were other people around. But to her surprise he only tightened his grip around her waist and held her there.

“My lord, it is Lord Baelish” Ned’s squire could be heard through the door.

Ned pressed another kiss to her neck.

“Send him in.”

“As much as I enjoy this, it might not be viewed as entirely appropriate” she said.

He chuckled.

“Because it’s common knowledge that Littlefinger is so very proper.”

He did have a point with that. But she straightened her back and sat with as much dignity as she could muster when her husband was her chair. She could do so much at least, and not sit curled up like a cat. 

Petyr’s eyes immediately drifted to her when he entered, and then to the empty chair a bit away from her. 

“Is your chair not to your liking, Cat?”

“Why grab a silver coin when you have a gold one right in front of you?” she asked, determined to not blush or let his japes get to her.

“I suppose that does sound reasonable” he shrugged. “Lord Stark, I must ask you about if you sent that letter to Lord Tywin?”

“I am afraid I have not” Ned said.

“Might I ask why?”

“I think it might be wise to wait, so that we do not anger him unnecessarily.”

Petyr snorted.

“Do you never listen to me, Stark?” he asked. “When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it. Waiting won’t make the maid any prettier. He will be angry no matter when he gets that letter.”

“Not that I would know anything of bedding an ugly woman” Ned sighed. “My wife is very beautiful.”

Catelyn had to bite her lip in order to stifle a laugh, she had a feeling of that Ned had heard Petyr’s word more than a few times before and was more than a bit tired of them.

“You are most kind, my lord” she said.

“But you seem to have experience in it and if you believe it’s better to kiss her and be done with it I trust you” he continued. “I shall send a rider with a message for Lord Tywin.”

Petyr regarded them for a moment before simply nodding and turning to leave again.

“I don’t like that man” Ned muttered. “And I don’t like how he looks at you.”

“I know, my love. But I think it is very apparant who I would rather lay my eyes upon.”

She kissed him.

“Now, should we get something done so that we can get out of here before nightfall?”


End file.
